The rise of vertical farming

Added on 25 January 2024

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Greenhouse-grown brassica microgreens are produced under amber-blue lights and decreased red light to promote carotenoid production. Photo: Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada

The development and future of vertical 'plant factories'. Broadly speaking, commercial vertical farming operations are humankind’s attempt to grow food under conditions more controllable than Mother Nature allows and with a minimum of wasted space.

Many seem like sci-fi greenhouses: hydroponics, plants growing in stacks or up walls and high-tech sensor setups that seem straight out of the mind of Gene Roddenberry.

And, with an increasing number of companies trying to make a go of it in Canada, vertical farming has become a buzzword.

“Vertical farming is too broad of a term, in my opinion,” said Thomas Graham, assistant professor and PhytoGro research chair in controlled environment systems at the University of Guelph. “When I say vertical farming, I’m talking about stacked multi-layer production systems, or plant factories.”

Beyond the ability to control light and temperature, the production system has made waves as a system in which pests and pathogens can be eliminated, chemical input costs shortened considerably and the risk of contamination can be limited. Lettuce, for example, is a common product for vertical operations. It is also a product at the heart of several salmonella scares.

In terms of medicinal crops and plant-based pharmaceuticals, the controlled environment of vertical farms is ideal.

“If you take those plants that are making a drug [compound] and grow them in different environments, a drug could be different. So you need to give it the same conditions 365 days a year. You can only do that indoors,” Graham said.

It is unrealistic to imagine a future where vertical farming replaces ag as we know it, he added, but it can be seen as complementary to field production.